Ramsauer–Townsend Effect in Solid Hydrogen

Abstract

The TRIUMF E742 experiment has measured the energy dependence of the scattering cross-sections of muonic deuterium and tritium on hydrogen molecules for collisions in the energy range 0.1–45 eV. The experimental setup permits the creation of muonic atom (μd or μt) beams. The multilayered target system gives the possibility to choose the type of interactions to study and to isolate a particular interaction. The scattering of μd or μt beams on H2 is analyzed via the muon transfer reaction to neon. The time-of-flight method is used to measure the scattering cross section as a function of the energy of the muonic atom beam. The results are compared, using Monte Carlo simulations, with theoretical calculations which have been recently performed with high accuracy.